BRAVE NEW WORLD
companion for study, research, and reflection
Mr. Craig’s British Literature and Composition Class
Rockdale Career Academy
Fall 2015
What This Is And How to Use It
■ The contents of the following slides were made during (and in a few cases before)
sessions of my Twelfth-Grade British Literature and Composition classes at Rockdale
Career Academy, Fall Semester 2015. Some notes were recorded by the teacher on
a laptop during class, while others are snapshots of the whiteboard taken from inclass annotation/discussion sessions. We did not cover each chapter of the Brave
New World in class, so this PPT skips those parts of the book. Some general
discussion questions are also scattered about.
■ Use the slides to find specific page numbers, to approximate the location of events,
and/or to refresh your memory on the events of the novel and class discussions.
Chapter 1 – Setting and Mood
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Central London Hatchery, A.F. 632
Sterile , Clinical , Orderly, Controlled, “Porcelain”
"World State"
Motto: "Community, Identity, Stability"
Caste System
Alphas, Betas
Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons
“Bizzarro”
Chapter 1 – Characters
■ Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (DHC, The Director)
– Passionate about his job, the experiments, and The World
State
– Very knowledgeable about his job
■ Henry Foster
– Seems young, like a prodigy
– Proud of the mass production of human beings Was dating
Lenina
■ Lenina Crowne
– She’s bought fully into the philosophy of The World State
Chapter 2 – Setting and Mood
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Central London Hatchery, AF 632
Sterile , Clinical , Orderly
Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRrBsoU3PVI
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"World State"
Motto: "Community, Identity, Stability”
What’s missing? “Freedom,” “Individuality”
Questions: Identity vs. Individuality
Chapter 2 – Characters
■ Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (DHC, The
Director)
– Servant of the State – “A Company Man”
■ p. 22-23 – Conditioning – country sports
thingTommy
– ” I don’t know!” – pp. 24-25
– Product of Sleep Conditioning (Hypnopædia)
– Hypnopædia is good for visceral, rote conditioning,
but cannot “be made an instrument of intellectual
education” (25).
Chapter 3 – Setting and Mood
■ Outside the Central London Hatchery, AF 632
– “Erotic Play” among children – another “Bizzarro”
moment
■ Three(?) Conversations Going at Once:
– Lenina and Fanny – Idle conversation? about who’s
dating whom
– Mustapha Mond and the Students/DHC – Philosophy of
World State– Explains the “After Ford” (A.F.) thing
– Henry Foster is talking about “having” Lenina – Bernard
overhears and starts getting upset
After Ford
■ What does the “A.F” time delineation tell us
about this world?
■ How do we think Huxley felt about mass
production?
Chapter 3 – Characters
■ Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (DHC, The Director)
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Mustafa Mond (“The Controller”)
1 of 10 “World Controllers”
Bernard Marx
Feels jealousy in spite of conditioning by World State
Sappy? Caring? Bitter? Soft? Depressed? Depends
on how you look at it.
– Shorter than the others – already feels somewhat
different
Chapter 4 – Setting and Mood
■ Central London Hatchery, AF 632
– Does everyone live in this compound?
■ Bernard wants to speak in private, but Lenina
doesn’t understand why (58).
– Question of Western, specifically U.S. American
culture vs. many others– ideas of personal space,
privacy, etc.
■ Bernard flies to Hemholtz Watson’s place.
Chapter 4 – Characters
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Bernard Marx
Existential Crisis
Feels like an outsider
Benito Hoover
Good-natured former lover of Lenina, overweight
“Could get through life without Soma” – p. 60
Lenina Crowne
All about the World State
Brainwashed, Well-Conditioned
Hemholtz Watson
Really well-engineered – a perfect specimen
Tells Bernard that Mustafa Mond is transferring him to Iceland
What’s the nature of Bernard and
Hemholtz’s conversation?
Chapter 5 – Setting and Mood
■ Central London Hatchery, AF 632
– Sterile , Clinical , Orderly Compound
■ Solidarity Service – What does it replace?
■ “Orgy Porgy” (84-85)
■ Soma
Chapter 5 – Characters
■ Bernard Marx:
– Still shallow—regrets being close to Morgana during
orgy
– “much more alone, indeed, more hopelessly himself
than he had ever been in his life before” (86)
Chapter 6 – Setting and Mood
Something happens between Lenina and Bernard.
– Opens with Lenina thinking of Bernard as “Odd, odd,
odd” (87). Why?
■ Trip to the “Savage” Reservation
Chapter 6 – Characters
■ Bernard: How does he feel about thinking differently from
the others?
– Unhappy, depressed, scared, “enslaved” (91)
■ Lenina
– Surprised at question of happiness
■ The Director: What is his secret?
– He has an illegitimate child with some “savage” lady.
Brave New World Film (1998)
■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-eYYBdr1G0
Chapter 7 – More Class Notes
Chapter 8
■ “Savage” Reservation
■ John’s story
■ Where’s the title of the book from?
■ Connection between John and Bernard
Chapter 9
■ John is falling in love with Lenina… see any potential problems here?
Chapter 10
■ Back at Central London Hatchery
■ The Director’s humiliation
Chapter 11 – Class Notes
Chapter 17 – Class Notes
Chapter 17 – More Class Notes
Chapter 18 – Class Notes